[Politics] Labour Party meltdown incoming.......

[kevo]

There's a difference between not saying they will raise taxes and specifically ruling it out. I'm slightly annoyed they did the latter. But I'm more annoyed at the double standards of the press that demand they do exactly that. When the Tories produce a manifesto, it's rarely worth the paper it's written on as they hardly ever bother to produce any costed material. On the other hand, Labour produced a costed manifesto in 2019 and the media spent their time picking holes in it, rather than demanding the Conservatives produce anything whatsoever.

Yep - I remember the media constantly asking how Labour would pay for free broadband, for example, and Labour saying it's all been costed in our manifesto - but apparently this wasn't a good enough answer. Yet the Tory manifesto was not costed AT ALL.

I could accept the Sun, Mail, Telegraph and Express were going to do this, but the BBC were just as bad (which is worse, because people generally see them as 'impartial').

No doubt it will be the same this time. The obstacles Labour face fighting a media who are on board with the Tories will always pose a challenge. So just imagine if Labour said they were going to raise taxes...

 

[rippleman]

Not unless you’re prepared to go 16 rounds with @Harry Wilson's tackle


(Diane Abbott btw lost the whip for denying the existence of antisemitism and equating the Jewish identity with having red hair - objectionable woman who is better being ignored by the Speaker on the back benches as an Independent than ever standing for the Labour Party again)


No one does implosion like the Tory Party.

I know that HWT is just being a WUM regarding the Labour Party and it is mildy amusing.

But I know that HWT has read the thread where Borat produced this letter produced in the Guardian which perhaps puts Abbott's comments in context. And tbh it makes absolute sense.

Speaking as a Jewish person (born and lifelong) and after 40 years married to an Irishman, I have to say that Diane Abbott is absolutely right. Of course Irish and Jewish people don’t suffer the racial abuse that Black people do – day in, day out. We are not immediately picked out as different and the police do not stop us if we drive nice cars. (Benjamin Zephaniah sold his BMW because he got stopped by the police so many times in it.) We do not worry, as Black families do, whether our children will be either racially attacked or falsely arrested by the police on their way home from school or a night out.

She speaks from bitter experience and she is entitled to her opinion. Her letter was answering an article the previous week, which was clearly there to engender a debate. Are we no longer allowed to debate issues in this country?

If Abbott – an MP who has worked hard for her constituents, which is what an MP is supposed to do – is not allowed to stand for Labour at the next election, I, as a lifelong Labour voter, will not vote Labour.

Angela Singer
Cambridge

 

[Simster]

Okey dokey, In future, I'll run any light hearted comments past you, on a DM for approval, before posting.

Although that might be sensible, I'm afraid I don't have time. My advice would be to instead not post a load of shit and then pretend it's a joke.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Although that might be sensible, I'm afraid I don't have time. My advice would be to instead not post a load of shit and then pretend it's a joke.

You had the time to comment in the first place, so dont give me that bollocks. You shouldn't take yourself too seriously, lighten up.

 

[joydivisionovengloves]

Get over yourself, it was a joke.

You may not agree with the chickens reason for crossing the road but it was f***ing funny watching him try.

 

[R. Slicker]

Get over yourself, it was a joke.

Oh, I see.
I wouldn't open with it.

 

[Chicken Run]

I am curious to see what they do when they have difficult decisions to make, although there is a lot of low hanging fruit that can be picked before it gets to that. Improving trade relations with the EU, and taxing private education are two excellent, sensible policies but stuff like that won't fix everything.

It annoys me that they are ruling out tax rises for a start, when it is quite clear something has to be done to pay for the Tory mess where nothing in the public sector works.

And let’s be brutally honest, on day one, possibly two the new Chancellor/PM will get the bingo cards rolling with “ It’s a whole lot worse than we first thought” I’m with you, we need to raise taxes

 

[Hamilton]

They are hardly going to state this during an election campaign. Tax cuts/rises are the one thing that really motivates people to vote for and against a party.

I agree they will have to raise revenue somehow, so this will probably happen at some point though.

It always startles me how many people forget that in politics it's the job of the opposition to scrutinise policy and to get elected, not to do the government's work for them and start offering up loads of solutions to problems.

You have to say what you stand for and how you'll pay for it, but not necessarily the fine detail behind how you'll achieve it.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Get over yourself, it was a joke.

Hard to read nuance in text. I also though for a moment you may have lost your mind

 

[Dibdab]

I feel very uncomfortable with this situation if Dianne Abbott is not allowed to stand in the upcoming election yet we allow hard right Tory defectors into the party

Its pretty obvious Labour are now the new centrist version of the Tories.

 

[Is it PotG?]

That poor nurse asked Starmer and Streeting a direct question about help, all she got was the usual flannel "...we don't want to over promise and under achieve, we'd sooner do it the other way around"

Empty rhetoric and no plans.

 

[wellquickwoody]

'Loony lefties' and 'hard left' already making their way in the lexicon used on this thread and we are still on page 1! Just missing the overuse of the word 'WOKE' to describe ANYTHING vaguely non-twattish and we will have Tory bingo!

Makes a change from hard right, Nazi, facists and gammon

 

[Hamilton]

I know that HWT is just being a WUM regarding the Labour Party and it is mildy amusing.

But I know that HWT has read the thread where Borat produced this letter produced in the Guardian which perhaps puts Abbott's comments in context. And tbh it makes absolute sense.

Speaking as a Jewish person (born and lifelong) and after 40 years married to an Irishman, I have to say that Diane Abbott is absolutely right. Of course Irish and Jewish people don’t suffer the racial abuse that Black people do – day in, day out. We are not immediately picked out as different and the police do not stop us if we drive nice cars. (Benjamin Zephaniah sold his BMW because he got stopped by the police so many times in it.) We do not worry, as Black families do, whether our children will be either racially attacked or falsely arrested by the police on their way home from school or a night out.

She speaks from bitter experience and she is entitled to her opinion. Her letter was answering an article the previous week, which was clearly there to engender a debate. Are we no longer allowed to debate issues in this country?

If Abbott – an MP who has worked hard for her constituents, which is what an MP is supposed to do – is not allowed to stand for Labour at the next election, I, as a lifelong Labour voter, will not vote Labour.

Angela Singer
Cambridge

The trouble with Diane is that she keeps putting her foot in it, whether intentionally or by accident.

She's become a bit of a liability and perhaps now lacks the calibre required of a party that you might want in government.

The fact that she's saying she has been barred when the Labour Party are saying she hasn't is a case in point. Read the room. Help your party some other way. You've had your time in the sun.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I'm listening to that on delay.

Is that a painful listen for you as a moderate Labour member/supporter? A magnet for the left who we know, we've spoke about this, will secretly always want a Blair or Starmer government to fail.

No, I'm quite chilled. I expect brickbats from the hard right and hard left. Starmer is that dangerous (i.e., that likely to prevail, win an election and steer calmer).

The latest on Abbott is that just like her reaction when she had her collar felt in the first place, before she wound her neck back in, it looks like she has got the wrong end of the stick again. Starmer was just asked if Abbott has been stood down and he said 'no'.

I would be tempted now, if I were Starmer, to boot her out for being mad.

And meanwhile, just like they did when Hughton was sacked, well know black 'spokesmen' are accusing labour of racism. Because Abbott is black. I was particularly offended by the narrative that black people vote labour purely because Labour support black people, and any whiff that this may no longer be the case will result in black people not supporting labour. What patronizing (and racist) nonsense! Anyone supporting my party on grounds of race can f*** off as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Makes a change from hard right, Nazi, facists and gammon

We could all do with a change to get the hard right, Nazi, facist and gammons out of office. BTW, you missed ‘lying ****s‘ off the list.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

The trouble with Diane is that she keeps putting her foot in it, whether intentionally or by accident.

She's become a bit of a liability and perhaps now lacks the calibre required of a party that you might want in government.

The fact that she's saying she has been barred when the Labour Party are saying she hasn't is a case in point. Read the room. Help your party some other way. You've had your time in the sun.

This.

(I am not a wind up merchant but sometime my withering irony does not translate into the written word. I think I write quite well but not every nuance is obvious).

Incidentally I was watch an old episode of Civilization presented by Kenneth Clark the other day. My goodness, that man's insight and honesty are so impressive. Today he sounds like a raving lefty with his criticism of the bad aspects of industrialization and empire. I was surprised.

 

[southstandandy]

Diane Abbott will be allowed back as long as she passes her 2 x 2 tables. She's revising hard apparently.

 

[KZNSeagull]

SKS has stated that Dianne Abbott is not barred from being a candidate. "No decision has been made to bar Dianne Abbott"
"The process that we were going through ended with the restoration of the whip the other day, so she's a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party, and no decision has been taken barring her." From the BBC

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

SKS has stated that Dianne Abbott is not barred from being a candidate. "No decision has been made to bar Dianne Abbott"
"The process that we were going through ended with the restoration of the whip the other day, so she's a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party, and no decision has been taken barring her." From the BBC

Yep. Increasingly looking like Abbott has made another of her regular cock-ups. I have no sympathy.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Its pretty obvious Labour are now the new centrist version of the Tories.

No longer a danger to the nation then?

Rishi Sunak to warn next few years 'most dangerous' for UK in major speech

The PM will argue in a speech that the UK is facing some of its "most transformational" years.

www.bbc.co.uk

Rishi Sunak’s scare tactics aren’t going to work against a soothing Keir Starmer | Andrew Rawnsley

As he demonstrated at the launch of his pledge cards, the Labour leader has succeeded in de-risking perceptions of his party

www.theguardian.com